A food pantry director interviewed by CBS News described a sharp shift in need since federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) adjustments were paused, identifying seniors, families with children, and people who recently lost access to benefits as the groups now relying most heavily on charitable food assistance.

Pantries nationwide are contending with a rise in first-time clients and longer-term households seeking help more frequently, according to local leaders. The pantry director said the SNAP pause — which halted normal benefit recalculations and emergency allotments in some areas — has left many households with thinner resources and increased reliance on overburdened community organizations. The strain comes as pantries are still recovering from pandemic-era disruptions to volunteers, donations and supply chains.

Seniors on fixed incomes are particularly vulnerable, pantry directors report, because rising food and utility costs erode limited monthly budgets and because many do not qualify for supplemental programs beyond SNAP. Families with children face compounded pressures as school meal access narrows during breaks and waivers that expanded meal eligibility during the pandemic have expired or been curtailed. The pantry director also pointed to workers with irregular hours or those who have seen benefits lapse during administrative reviews as newly dependent on food banks.

The current squeeze exposes structural tensions between federal entitlement programs and local charitable responses. SNAP is designed to provide automatic stabilizers in economic downturns, but administrative changes and policy freezes can blunt that role and shift the burden to community organizations that lack stable funding. Food banks and pantries depend on a mix of private donations, state and federal grants, and local fundraising; sudden surges in demand strain storage, staffing and distribution capacity.

Policy implications are immediate and political. Elected officials control emergency allotments, funding for anti-hunger programs, and the regulatory environment that governs SNAP certification. Local officials and anti-hunger advocates are urging temporary emergency assistance and administrative fixes to reduce churn in enrollment, simplify recertification, and restore benefit adjustments that match rising costs. Those requests intersect with broader budgetary debates at state and federal levels about priorities and the scope of the social safety net.

Institutional performance matters as well: food banks that have diversified funding, invested in refrigerated storage, and coordinated with local social-service agencies have been better positioned to absorb shocks. Rural and suburban communities with thin non-profit infrastructure are at greater risk of service interruptions, according to pantry operators contacted by CBS News.

With polls tightening ahead of Election Day, the pressure on food assistance programs risks crystallizing voter concerns about economic security. Civic engagement around hunger policy — from constituent outreach to ballot-box accountability — is likely to shape how lawmakers respond in the coming months. For now, local pantries are appealing for donations and volunteers even as they press for policy fixes that would stabilize benefits for the most vulnerable.